The Unexpected Outcome
by ninja magician
Summary: Hinata Hyuga is starting a new school for her senior year. She's a simple, shy girl who just wishes to go unnoticed until she's able to live on her own. Until a blond-haired, blue-eyed athletic star rammed into her life. Literally. Summary sucks and this is my first story. So constructive criticism is openly appreciated. Domestic abuse is present
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is my first story so I hope it isn't too bad. If you see anything feel free to point it out. Constructive criticism is openly appreciated, and I'd love to hear what you have to say. Arigatou gozaimasu!**

I awoke to sun streaming through my window. _God another first day, _was the first thing I thought when that godforsaken sun somehow manage to find the perfect spot of which to blind me. Gomen, I'm getting off track.

Hello I'm Hyuga Hinata, and today is another first day of school for me. I'm sixteen and in the last year I've transferred to 3 different schools. My father's work forces him to move a lot, and my sister, Hanabi, and I are forced to move with him.

That is how I end up transferring to three different schools in a single year. My new school is called Konoha Academy. It's supposed to be a really nice, private school. Though I'm not entirely sold yet, I've had more than my fair share of these and the only difference between the public, and private schools are that you have to pay to attend one of them. I'm a senior this year so in a year I will be able to live on my own and never have to move again. My sister Hanabi can even live with me, I've been taking care of her my entire life anyway. Our mother passed shortly after Hanabi was born because of unforeseen medical difficulties. I miss her, especially on days like these when I wish I could talk to her about how nervous I feel. You would think after moving so many times I wouldn't be nervous about starting at a new school, but I'm always nervous on my first day.

_BEEP BEEP BEEP. _My alarm clock goes off to remind me that I have to get out of bed. Shit its 6! I'm going to be late if I don't hurry. Thankfully though I set my outfit out last night knowing I was probably going to get out of bed late. I had a nice pair of dark, skinny jeans with a nice loose knit tank with a cami underneath, and my favorite pair of grey Vans. I put a little eyeliner, lip gloss, and mascara on and I'm out of my room. I run downstairs and through some bread in the toaster. And as I run around trying to put all of my stuff in my schoolbag, father appears. He is tall and intimidating which is why I keep my head down while I eat my toast.

"Ohayou, otou-sama" I mutter as a hurriedly finish my toast and put my plate in the sink.

"Ohayou, Hinata. Are you not supposed to have been out of the house by now? Why are you late?" He says while glaring at me.

"I woke up late, gomenasai" I whisper hoping he won't slap me. Again.

"Make sure your up on time tomorrow. We don't want to look bad in the new neighborhood." As if we are going to stay long enough to really have a chance to see any of them.

"Hai, otou-sama." I head to the door. Quietly praying he doesn't say anything more. When I reach the door I glance back at my father, and he's looking at my sister.

"Ohayou, Hanabi. How did you sleep?" Father said with a caring tone. Hanabi had emerged from her room, wiping her eyes with one hand, to try and get the sleep gunk out of them.

"Ohayou, otou-sama" Hanabi replies, sounding groggy, "Ohayou, nee-chan." she says directly to me.

"Ohayou, Hanabi-chan" I say back to her. Hanabi is a very sweet child, kind.

"Hinata, shouldn't you be going. You're going to be late." Father says with a voice as cold as ice.

"Hai, ittekimasu" I mutter still hurt by the sudden tone change between Hanabi and me. Still today was my first day so I have to be calm and try not to embarrass myself too soon. I just hope I make a friend today.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for everyone who's read and reviewed the story! It's my first one so I was worried no one was going to read the story. R&amp;R please!**

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Thankfully my house is within walking distance of Konoha Academy. So I don't have to worry about meeting any of the students until I arrive. I can finally get some time to myself this morning. I really hope I don't make a fool of myself at this school. I embarrassed myself at every school I've been to. It always ends up happening at the most public places, such as, a school fair, a pep rally, or even at the football game.

Then the early bell snapped me out of my thoughts. As I rush toward the front door I see a football hurtling toward me, out of the corner of my eye. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to dodge to dodge the football. The ball hits my head then bounces into the hands of a very handsome boy running over.

"Sorry about that. Kiba over there apparently doesn't care that such a pretty girl would get hit in the head by his bad pass." He said as he glared at is other friend with weird red triangles on his face.

"Oi! You weren't paying attention either, and that was not a bad pass!" Kiba yelled back "I'm sorry about that. Allow me to take you out to apologize properly." Kiba asked as he walked over. He seemed kind.

"Yea like she would want to go out with you, dumbass." The boy said pointedly to Kiba. "I'm Naruto by the way. Who are you? I haven't seen you around before." Naruto leaned in while trying to listen for my answer.

"Hinata, I'm sorry I have to get to class." I whispered while brushing past. I didn't want to make a fool of myself. The blush on my cheeks didn't help to calm my nerves either. Naruto was seemed sweet and there was something that was pulling me to him. I glance back to see Kiba and Naruto returning to passing the football, but I could see him giving me looks when he could.

As I walk up the steps into the school I see the sign for the front office directly in front of me. I walk into the office and the secretary immediately calls me over. She was very pretty with short black hair, and a stuffed pig on her desk.

"Your Hyuga Hinata right?" She asks. I nod hoping if I don't speak nothing weird will come out. "I'm Shizune, and if you go through the door on the right you'll be in the principal's office. She's been waiting for you." She smiles at me then returns to her desk. I mumble a thank you and walk into the principal's office.

"Hello Hinata. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Tsunade the principal, and here is your schedule." Tsunade said with authority. She's very pretty and has big …. assets. " Your transcripts indicated that you're proficient in math and science so I moved you into our honor's courses; otherwise you're in the regular classes. Do you have any questions?"

"Just how to get to my classes" Was all I really trusted myself to say. Though Tsunade was smiling and trying to be as friendly as she could but I was trying to get out as quickly as I could.

"I have someone waiting outside to take you to your first class, since you're in Gym together." Tsunade replied while escorting me to the door. "I hope you have a lovely day. Please stop by if you have anything that needs addressing." She smiled at me once more before opening the door to reveal Naruto.

"Oh, hey Hinata-chan. I thought you were the new student." Naruto had a big grin on his face.

"Naruto please escort her to gym." Tsunade told Naruto. As we were walking away she yelled "And don't try anything funny." I feel my face warm and I know I'm blushing.

"Baa-chan! Not in front of her!" Naruto yelled back which only increased my blush. He turned back from yelling back at Tsunade and smiled the big, goofy grin at me again. It made me feel better somehow. "What's your schedule? I wanna know if we have any more classes together." I glance at my schedule for the first time.

"Gym first, then Honors Biology, English, Honors Precalculus, History, Art, and study hall." I reply hoping I didn't sound as nervous as I feel.

"Awesome! We have gym and English together! Oh baa-chan wanted me to tell you lunch is after 4th period." Naruto practically yelled. He was so full of energy and it made me feel better that someone could be so excited about having classes with me. Usually the people that show me to my class are just trying to be polite.

We settle into a silence not sure what to talk about. Then suddenly we stop and he points to the door to the women's locker room.

"You change in there then the class meets out here in the gym area." Naruto the rushed off to the other side of the gym into the boys locker room. I walk into the locker room and notice a whole wall of lockers and then a couple shower stalls.

"Hi you must be the new student. I'm Anko one of the gym teachers." Anko-sensei seemed sweet but she surprised me when she suddenly appeared behind me. "You'll change in here then we all meet out in the gym. When we are all done you probably won't have time to shower but if you want to just tell me and I will turn the water on." After giving me a pat on the shoulder she went into her office which was inside the locker room.

I open the locker, and as I put my bag inside I grab my gym clothes. I close the locker and put my gym clothes on. The standard gym shorts, and my old Avicii t-shirt. I'm the only one in the locker room. I'm assuming because I was late to class. So I run out of the locker room and into the gym to see everyone in the class huddled around Anko-sensei and another, male, teacher. He looked scary, with a bowl, black hair cut and a bright green jumpsuit.

"Yosh! We are going to be playing soccer today! Outside to the field!" Yelled the scary gym teacher. I saw Naruto talking to a couple of his friends. I recognized Kiba, and then there was a boy with a hoodie and sunglasses on, and a guy with dark hair cut in what looked like a chicken butt.

"Yo Hinata!" Naruto shouted across the cluster of students "Come over here!" He was so boisterous. I was smiling as I made my way over to him, with a blush on my cheeks of course.

"Hello a-a-again N-naruto-kun" I had a bad habit of stuttering when I was flustered, and right now I was really flustered.

"Hey Hinata-chan, I wanted you to meet my friends. You know the kid that almost hit you in the head with a football from this morning." Naruto said while pointing to Kiba, who promptly glared at him. "Here is Sasuke-teme. He's really anti-social, so don't feel bad if he doesn't talk to you." Naruto said while leaning in with a hand on the side of his mouth. I giggled lightly, his antics were funny.

"Have you forgotten about me Naruto I wouldn't be surprised." The boy with the sunglasses said while pushing on the bridge of his glasses.

"Of course not Shino, I was simply saving the best for last. That's all." Naruto was waving his hands in front of him. "Hinata, this is Shino. He's quiet, but friendly." As Naruto finished the sentence Shino waved at me. I waved back and smiled at him.

"I-It's very n-n-nice t-to meet you a-all." I mumble. I really hated when I stutter. It makes feel like a weirdo. Thankfully though as the introductions completed we made it to the field, it was the school's football field but had the goals at the field goal posts.

"Yosh! You all youthfully made it down!" The scary teacher yelled. Anko-sensei then slapped on the back of his head and while he was nursing the soon-to-be bump she took the opportunity to speak.

"Okay I want you all to pair up. Then I'll decide how to split the teams." Anko-sensei said. She was a lot calmer about this then the guy in the jumpsuit.

"Hinata be my partner!" Naruto yelled while grabbing my arm, and I think I almost fainted.

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**Thank you everyone for reading. I'll try to update once or twice a week if I can! Arigatou gozaimasu!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you every one for reading and reviewing. I really appreciate all the positive feedback! I'm trying really hard not to go off on a tangent so….. ON WITH THE STORY!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. You know if I did Naruto would have confessed to Hinata by now.**

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Naruto was dragging me along, by the wrist, when all of sudden a girl with pink hair attached to his other arm.

"Naruto, be my partner." She told him. She was very demanding about it, in fact she almost yelled at him.

"I can't Sakura-chan I'm partnering with Hinata-chan it's her first day." He said with a little huff. It seems like she's done this before and he didn't like it.

"But Naruto we're dating. We're supposed to partner for these kinds of things." Sakura was obviously fake crying but I didn't want to start any trouble.

"I-It's ok N-Naruto-kun I'll p-p-partner with someone else." I stuttered again. I really hate it when I stutter, because I sound so weird and annoying.

"No Hinata-chan I'll be your partner. Sakura-chan can partner with teme." Naruto said "Right Sakura-chan?" You could see her face immediately brighten and she rushes over to Sasuke clinging to him like she did with Naruto. Sasuke doesn't seem too happy about partnering with her but agrees anyway.

"Everyone have a partner?" Anko asks "Good now I'm going to go around and hand half the partnered pairs jerseys." The scary teacher was still down. He seemed to have gained a couple of more lumps on his head as well. Anko walks to a Kiba and Shino and hands them a jersey, as well as Naruto and me. After she's finished handing out the jersey's she instructed us to find another partnered pair to play against.

Naruto dragged me over to Sasuke and Sakura as soon as Anko-sensei finishes talking. "Yo teme play against us!" Naruto yelled while running.

"Hn" was all Sasuke said in reply.

"Why don't we take the section in the middle?" Sakura asked. I just noticed that the field was split into three sections per half. I guess one pair had the side to guard the goal, and when the other pair scored they switched.

"Ok with you?" Naruto asked looking at me. He hadn't let go of my wrist so I was blushing like mad.

"H-Hai" Was all I really trusted myself to say. I saw Sakura glance at Naruto holding my wrist and glared at him. Naruto almost immediately let go, and when he did I started walking over to our section of the field.

"Hey Hinata have you played soccer before?" Sakura asked. She seemed to be fishing for something but I'm not sure what.

"H-Hai. I w-was on a couple of s-s-school teams before. T-Though we move a-a-a lot so I n-n-never really stay long." God I hate it when I stutter I sound so annoying. Though Sakura was surprised by my answer, I guess she was expecting me to have not played a lot.

"Ok let's get the game started! Hinata-chan and I will guard first." Naruto was so excited. It was infectious and I got really excited.

Sakura had the ball so she dropped it into the middle of our section and passed it to Sasuke. I've played soccer since I was six. It's been the only really consistent thing in my life. I always practice in the back yard when I get the chance. So when Sasuke started running at full speed I was able to keep up with him and slide tackle the ball from his feet. I gained control and went to the other end of the field, Naruto following close behind me.

"Hinata-chan that was amazing! One of the best things I've ever seen!" Naruto yelled, practically in my ear. I enjoyed his enthusiasm, but he needed to pay attention to the game.

"Naruto-Kun, would you please follow my lead?" I asked above a whisper for once. Soccer was one of the only things I was confident in so I wasn't as flustered anymore. I run forward, dribbling the ball between my feet. I assumed Naruto was a relatively good athlete by the fact that he seemed we built and was so excited for gym, so I passed him the ball when Sakura came up to try and block me. Naruto receives the pass but Sasuke is almost immediately on top of him. I run around Sakura make a break for it.

"Naruto-Kun!" I shout to tell him I was open. Naruto manages to get enough distance from Sasuke to pass me the ball. I get the ball but Sakura wasn't that far behind. She must run a lot because she caught up to me extremely quickly. I barely kicked the ball before she could block it.

"Alright! Go Hinata-chan!" Naruto screamed from the other end. I noticed that the scary gym teacher was crying while watching us.

"Yosh! Such a wonder display of youth! I have never such abundant youthfulness!" He cried. He had a fist raised in front of him while there was a stream of tears down his cheeks.

"Guy-sensei stop being such a creep!" Naruto yelled. Guy-sensei started walking away, but he was still crying with his fist raised. "Man he's weird." Naruto muttered under his breath.

The rest of gym continued with a back and forth from both pairs. We ended up tying the game, and Naruto was exclaiming excitedly the entire time back to the locker rooms. I changed in the locker room, blushing the entire time. I've never comfortable about these things, and went to my next class.

Honors Biology was just up the stairs, near the gym, so I find my way by myself and I arrive earlier than most. The teacher was sitting at his desk in the front of the class room. There were black top lab tables in the back where I assumed we would do dissections. I walk up to the teacher hoping he might have a seating chart.

"Hi. I-I'm the new t-transfer student." I was nervous and started stuttering again. I hate first day's; they're horrible.

"Yes, on the far left next to the windows. You'll sit at the second to last desk." He answered gruffly, then smiled he seemed kind but a little rough around the edges. "I'm Asuna by the way, and here's your book." He said giving me a big book with a parrot on it.

"Arigatou gozaimasu." I said while I bowed slightly and went to my seat. I just realized I should have asked Tsunade where my locker was instead of carrying around my bag all day like an idiot. Though I didn't have any books yet so I didn't have a lot to put in yet. I stare out the window wondering how long father was going to allow us to stay before we moved again, while the rest of the students arrived. Beside me there was a kid with what looked like a pineapple sticking out of the back of his head. It was kind of funny looking so I chuckled a little involuntarily. Hoping he didn't hear I turn around and grab my binder out of my bag. Though when I turn back I see him looking at me with a bored look on his face.

"You're the new student aren't you?" He asked almost yawning.

"H-Hai. I'm Hinata. What is you name if I may ask?" I asked.

"Troublesome" He muttered under his breath "I'm Shikamaru." He said still looking bored. Shikamaru didn't seem to be in a mood for conversation, however. But thank god when Asuna-sensei started class right after Shikamaru told me his name.

"Ok today we will be talking about the nucleus of a cell and the DNA inside." Asuna-sensei announced to start the class. The rest of the period went by in a flurry of notes and Power Point presentations. The bell rings signaling the end of class. "No homework tonight" was Asuna-sensei's last words as I exit the class room.

"Yo Hinata-chan!" Naruto shouts from the other end of the hallway. Naruto was smiling ear to ear as he approached me. He looks cute when he smiles. "I'm here to take you to English. It's not that far. I'm surprised you found your way to Bio. I know my first day at this school. I couldn't find anything. I was late to all my classes the entire first week." Naruto was still grinning ear to ear. I wish I could be as happy as he was. Sadly life never gives some of us a break.

I didn't want to stutter again so I just keep my mouth shut. Though this lead to an uncomfortable silence that continued to English. I wish I could talk to him Naruto is such a nice guy. Ruefully we reach the English classroom without speaking another room.

"Ok Hinata-chan I'm going to grab my seat if you want to ask Kakashi-sensei where your seat is." Naruto seemed dejected, like he was sad about something. God I hope he doesn't think I don't like him.

"Excuse me. I'm the new transfer student." I've said these words enough that I never stutter when saying them.

"Hello Hinata. Your seat is in the second row, third back. We don't hand out textbooks because we never really use them but here. This is the book we're currently reading." Kakashi-sensei hands me a copy of The Fault in Our Stars. "We are only one the second chapter so you aren't too far behind." I love this book I've already read it twice. I walk to my seat and but my bag under my desk and crack open the book and immediately get sucked into the familiar world of love and death.

The bell rings and Kakashi-sensei starts class. Though since they had just started the book it was just a reading day, and the next thing I realized is the bell rings to signal the end of class.

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**Thanks again for reading! Hope your enjoyed he story!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'M SOOOO SOOOORRRY! I've been so busy lately. One of my cats is really sick so I've been busy trying to take care of her. Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing. I really appreciate it!**

** Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. God knows if I did Neji wouldn't have died.**

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"Hinata could you come here for a moment?" Kakashi-sensei asked. As I walk to his desk a girl with long blond hair in a high ponytail walks into the room. "Hello Ino." Kakashi-sensei greets her with a quick wave and an eye smile. You can't see his face because of a mask over is mouth and an eye patch over his left eye. "Hinata, this is Ino. Tsunade-sama asked her to show you the way to your next class." Ino gives a quick wave

"Hi, you're in my Bio class right?" Ino seems so energetic, and her smile was so big it made me worry her face was going to crack in half.

"H-Hai" I say and nod simultaneously. Ino stayed silent expecting me to continue but when I didn't she just moved on.

"Alright off we go. See ya later Kakashi-sensei!" Ino exclaimed as we ran out the door. "Since you're new I'm going to give you all the important gossip….." She then proceeded to tell me the rumors going around the school about various people I've never heard of or met. Ino talked the entire way to Precalc. Even if I wanted to say something, and I assure you I didn't, I couldn't.

When we got to Precalc Ino told me to get my seat from the teacher and then she'd meet me at my seat. I'm extremely grateful she is willing to talk to me, but I don't know how much gossip I can take.

"Hello I'm the new student" I say more out of habit than necessity. I saw the teacher recognize me when I walked through the door.

"Yes Hinata. I'm Yamato, here's your book. You'll sit middle row, last desk." Yamato-sensei stood and gestured to my desk in the back. I smile, nod, and take my seat. As I shove my bag underneath my desk Ino walks up.

"Hey here are my notes, we're in the middle of trig identities and it's probably going to be confusing if you jump right in in the middle of everything." Ino smiled handed me the notes then started walking off.

"Arigatou, Ino" I mutter, thankful I didn't stutter.

"It's fine. Least I could do. I was a new student once too." She winked at me and ran back to her seat. I'm happy she's willing to give me her notes. No one's every really done that for me. I always end up asking the teacher for extra lessons because I arrived in the middle of the unit. I copy what I can from the notes before Yamato-sensei starts the lesson but I only get half of them down.

The bell rings and I start to back up my stuff. I grab Ino's notebook and try and give it back to her.

"It's alright if you didn't finish. Just give it to me in Bio tomorrow." Ino says. She smiles gives a small wave then runs out the door. I just stare after her not expecting her to be that kind.

"Hello Hinata. I'm here to show you to lunch." I jumped and spun around to find Shino right behind me. I put my hand over my heart and sigh. Shino is the master of stealth.

"Arigato, Shino" I smile and we start walking. Shino doesn't talk much but it's always a comfortable silence. We walk into the cafeteria and I get a little scared. _I have no one to sit with._

"Follow me." Was all Shino says before he started walking toward the back of the room. I always pack my lunch so I just simply follow Shino to where he's headed. As we approach the back of the lunch room I see at the last table Naruto, Kiba, Sakura, Sasuke, and a few other people were eating their lunch. Shino walks over to the table and sits next to Kiba. I notice a spot open between Naruto and Kiba. I try to slip into the seat unnoticed but Kiba saw me and welcomed me loudly to the table.

"Yo Hinata!" He grinned at me while is sit down.

"H-H-Hello K-Kiba." I stutter because of all the people here. Large groups of people get me flustered.

"Hello Hinata" Sakura greets me with a smile and a small wave. Everyone greets me in turn. Ino, Shikamaru, and a boy named Choji. Sasuke just gave me a nod of the head and an 'hn'. I look at Naruto just to see him staring at his food, which didn't look to interesting.

"N-N-Naruto-kun. How i-is y-your d-day going?" I ask hoping that I can make him feel better. I have a strange pull to him. Naruto makes me feel better just by being around him.

Naruto jerks his head around and stares at me like I had three heads. I blush furiously and stare at my twiddling fingers. He probably thinks I'm such a freak. I stutter all the time, I can't look him in the eyes, and I'm poking my finger together like an idiot.

"My day has been great Hinata-chan." Naruto says. I snap my head in his direction and see him grinning like a fox. Naruto seemed to be in high spirits again. His eyes gave away that he was troubled, though.

"Hinata, how has your day been so far?" Sakura asked. She was smiling at me but it seemed forced.

"It's b-b-been f-fine, S-Sakura-san." I answer. I'm staring at the lunch table and hope no one asks me anymore question but it doesn't seem like luck was on my side today.

"Where did you transfer from?" Kiba asked.

"M-My l-last school w-was in San D-Diego. M-My f-f-f-father is relocated a-a lot." Will my stuttering ever stop? I sound like such a weirdo. They must think I'm an idiot.

"Wow! You're from California? It must suck to be here in this depressing place. It isn't the most exciting area." Ino jutted in. She frightened me from the sudden and loud interjection. I just sat there and nodded. Thankfully from there the group started talking about California and where they'd like to live one day. I was able to avoid all question and just ate my lunch.

As I lunch finished Choji told me he would take me to History.

I walked into the class and notice a man sitting behind a desk with what looks like a toothpick hanging at the edge of his mouth. I walk up to him go over the whole 'I'm the new student' situation.

"Here's your book. You showed up at the perfect time because I'm starting a new unit today. We're covering the ancient Japanese Feudal system." He then pointed out my seat. I whispered a 'thank you' and sat at my desk. I always loved the feudal system. My father was relocated to Japan a while ago and I was able to learn about the feudal system while there. The samurai always fascinated me. Though some were little more than common thugs the ones I recognize as true samurai were those that were steadfast in their loyalty to their master and honored their unwritten code of conduct known as the Bushido code. The Bushido Code holds virtues everyone should have and how I try to guide my life.

The bell snaps me out of my thoughts and I hurriedly try and shove all of my things into my bag. As I walk out of the class Kiba calls out to me.

"Yo Hinata!" He shouts "I'm here to take you to art. Kurenai-sensei teaches it and I can't wait for you to meet her. She's the nicest person and one of the best teachers." Kiba then starts talking about Kurenai-sensei excitedly.

"Here we are. I really hope you like her. Kurenai-sensei is awesome!" Kiba shouts again. He seems nice but he's really loud. I walk up to Kurenai-sensei and see she's working on a painting. It was amazing. There was a girl on the edge of a grassy cliff with a long Victorian style dress seemingly blowing in a breeze. She was facing away from that point of view but you could see her outstretched hands cupped holding sakura petals that were floating away on the wind.

"You must be Hinata. I'm Kurenai the art teacher." I jump when Kurenai-sensei starts talking, suddenly snapping back to reality. I blush realizing how ridiculous I looked gawking at her painting. I nod not trusting myself to speak with all the embarrassment.

"There is no seating chart so sit wherever you like. We just started experimenting with water colors so feel free to just grab a brush and go at it." Kurenai-sensei smiles at me. I simply nod not wanting to give a verbal reply, and she seems to understand how nervous I am because she hands me a brush and points out a spot next to Shino.

I rush over to the vacant spot next to Shino and immediately grab paper from the stacks that were on the table. They were the same picnic-style tables that were in the lunch room. I dunk my brush in one of the buckets of water that was on the table and grab one of the trays of water colors. For the rest of the period I try my best to get a landscaped but I suck at art so I don't succeed.

My last period is study hall, thank kami, which is in the cafeteria so I was able to find it on my own. This study hall didn't have a seating arrangement so I just sat down and started working on my homework for the day. The final bell rang and I practically sprinted out of the building.

"Hinata-chan, come over here for a minute." Naruto called out to me from the front lawn of the school. He's sitting with the same group from lunch. "Do you want to go with us to the mall?"

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**AGAIN I'M SOOOOO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! I'm trying to catch up on what I missed. Hope there isn't too many mistakes. I tried to make it a little longer because of the late update so I hope you enjoyed.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you all for being so paitent with me and not cursing me out for leaving you out in the cold for so long. Again I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I hope you enjoy the new chapter.**

**Thank you,**

**Ninja Magician**

I freeze. I've never been in one place long enough to make friends and I don't want to hurt them when I, undoubtedly, move again.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry I-I-I c-can't" I'm stuttering horribly but I don't want to hurt them. They are kind and

warm, all of them, but I don't want to hurt them. They showed me a kindness not many others have even attempted. I just hope they don't hate me for not going with them.

"Are you sure? We're going to grab some bad food-court food and look at things we wish we could afford." Sakura said, laughing. It may be a lame joke but it made me giggle.

"I wanna look at the new game that came out on Friday." I look and see Kiba talking to Shino. Everyone then started talking about what they wanted to get or what they have to convince their parents to get them. I realize that the reason they invited me is because they truly wanted to be friends with me. I look around and I find Naruto still looking at me as if he was expecting an answer to Sakura's question. I look into his eyes and get lost in the sky and the sea at the same time. I nod my head before I realize it and I see Naruto grinning from ear to ear. He might split his face in half if his smile get any larger.

"Yosh! Ok I'll drive you home so you can grab anything you need, and to drop off your stuff." Naruto exclaims. They must have made plans to go to the mall before hand. The thought that they invited me to join their plans last minute gives me hope makes feel better about how they view me. I see Sakura give a glance to Naruto as he tells them that he's going to take me home.

"W-Wait, N-N-Naruto-k-kun! I can w-walk t-t-to m-my house. I-I d-d-d-don't live that f-far." I try and convince Naruto he doesn't have to drive me home but he won't listen to me. I just hope my Father isn't home when we pull up.

After having to give Naruto directions,We arrive at my house and my Father's car isn't in the driveway which lifts a weight off my shoulders. I still don't want Naruto in the house if Father suddenly come home so I somehow manage to convince Naruto to stay in the car. I get in the house and immediately run up the stairs to my room and drop my book bag at my desk. I look in the mirror, fix my hair, and touch-up my makeup. While throwing on a pair of earrings I grab my purse, my phone, and my keys and run downstairs. In the kitchen I leave a note telling Father and Hanabi that I won't be home until later and grab my jacket as I run out the door.

"You have everything you need?" Naruto asks, as I get in his car. I double check and I nod to Naruto.

We arrive at the school again and everyone is still on the front lawn of the school. Ino notices us pull in and drags everyone down to the parking lot. Naruto rolls down the window to hear what Ino's yelling at him.

"Hey you're gonna drive Shikamaru and I and Sasuke is going to take the rest of the group." Ino proclaims. I look and see Sasuke, Sakura, Choji, Kiba, and Shino all get into a large SUV. Ino and Shikamaru climb into Naruto's car with Shikamaru muttering 'troublesome', under his breath. I'm starting to feel nervous already because I've never had friends before. I've moved so much I've never wanted to make friends because it always hurts everyone in the end.

"So Hinata, what do you like shopping for?" Ino asked. She seems to like knowing everything about everyone. I love shopping for t-shirts with ironic phrases, skirts, and shoes. I, also, really love shopping for shoes.

"I-I-I l-like s-shopping for c-c-lothes-s." I managed to form some sort of a sentence but I couldn't elaborate on it like I really wished I could. I really hope I don't have to sound like a stuttering idiot forever.

"Me too. I actually shop every weekend. I even managed to find this shirt..." Ino continued on to talk about how much she shops, which is astounding. Ino winks at me and I recoil a little, taken by surprise at the action. It seems that Ino has figured out that I don't like to talk much and thus has decided to try and talk the entire car ride to the mall so I don't have to. Plus with Naruto in the car it didn't seem to be all that difficult.

We arrive at the mall and Naruto gets a text saying to meet at the food court.

"Hey Hinata. You hungry?" Naruto asks. I whip my head up at his voice. Apparently we are at the food court, I'd been so fixated on the ground a few feet in front of me.I glance at Naruto and see him looking at me expectantly. I shake my head and form a, what I hope is reassuring, smile. I'm so nervous I don't think I could hold anything down if I tried.

Naruto, Ino, Shikamaru, and I find Sasuke and the others in the food court by Subway. Sakura was standing up and waving at us, which helped a lot.

"Over here!" Sakura shouted. Sasuke, Kiba, Sakura, Shino, and Choji had found a couple of small tables and pushed them together to be able to fit everyone.

"I'm hungry. Anyone want anything?" Naruto asked. It was then that his stomach audibly grumbled and I couldn't help but chuckle. Everyone else was having a hard time controlling their laughter as well.

"Yea I'll go with you." Kiba said still chuckling. He got up with Choji who simply nodded at them and then they left.

Almost immediately after Naruto, Kiba, and Choji left Sakura launched into what had happened during her day. Sakura and Ino obviously hadn't quite finished the conversation from earlier. Ino was attentively listening to Sakura explain how some guy named Sai was punched in the face by a girl due to his ineptitude at human interactions. From what I can gather this isn't the first time something like this has happened to Sai.

"Hey Hinata." I hear Ino call. I had zoned out of the conversation after the Sai story and I didn't notice that their conversation had come to a close. "What do you think of Naruto?" Ino suddenly asks. I whip my head up, look at her, and see her wiggling her eyebrows at me. She's trying to insinuate something but there isn't anything to insinuate about the relationship between me and Naruto. Thus I immediately start stammering out 'umms' and 'errs' and avoided all eye contact, especially with Sakura. Thankfully though Sasuke came to my rescue.

"Don't tease her. She obviously doesn't want to answer with Sakura here." When Sasuke mentioned Sakura he looked at her and they held eye contact for a very long moment.

"You're right. No one should go after someone else's significant other right?" From the obvious amounts of anger and sarcasm in the sentence there is something going on within the group that I'm not privy to. Though based on the glare thrown at Sakura and Sasuke I think I might have an idea. All was not well in Konoha High School.

"Hey Hinata-chan where do you want to go?" Naruto asked. I look at Naruto, who had sat across from me when he came back with his food. Naruto is smiling at me but the smile didn't seem to reach his eyes. He looked a little lost and confused, like a lost puppy out in the rain.

"U-U-Ummm I-I w-w-want to go t-t-to H-H-Hot T-Topic." My stuttering is getting unbearable.

"Cool! I want to grab some shirts from there." Sakura commented. She seemed undisturbed by Ino's remark earlier but I get the sense that it's all just an act, just like Father does.

When my mother died Father started acting like everything was perfectly find in public. The way he acted at home, though, was the complete opposite. Father was cold, harsh, and drunk, most of the time, and as Hanabi, my sister, got older Father sobered up but was still cold and distant. Only to me though.

"Hinata-chan? You ok?" Naruto had his face a little too close to mind and a brand new, tomato red blush appeared on my face along with an 'eep' that escaped my lips. I throw myself as far back into my chair as I can and look around. Everyone smirked at me like they knew something was up.

Hoping I didn't look ridiculous I inched my chair sideways to create some space between me and Naruto. I cleared my throat, nodded, and smiled at Naruto hoping he'd go for it.

"Alright let's get going before the mall closes." Kiba says. I guess while I was in daydream-land everyone had finished eating.

I see Naruto and Sakura walking together. Neither of them were talking and both looked uncomfortable. Like no one wanted to be there. As I think about it, though they were dating I've never really seen them stand next to each other. The closest I've seen them together was in gym

class.

I walk next to Shino as we make our way to Hot Topic. He doesn't talk much and I'm to exhausted to answer questions about anything right now. It's only been 20 minutes and I'm already amazingly exhausted.

We arrive at Hot Topic and split into separate areas. I'm a huge otaku and immediate dive into the anime section. After making sure no one was looking I grab a shirt, a wallet, and a lanyard from various anime. I rush over to the register, while making sure no one was watching me, and buy the items. After I thank the girl at the register I turn around and find Naruto there staring at me. I have no idea when he started looking at me and how much he saw.

"Hey. What did you grab?" Naruto asks. He starts leaning in after he asks me the question. Apparently Naruto doesn't believe in personal space much. With the close proximity I couldn't focus but I did manage to squeeze out a badly stuttering 'nothing'.

"Really? Looks like you have a full bag there." Naruto says. He raises his eyebrows at me as I continue to not answer him.

"I-Its nothing." I reply. Naruto moves back enough that I managed to regain almost normal breathing patterns. I swear if he get that close to me again my heart is going to explode.

"OK OK I'm not going to force you to answer." Naruto raises his hands into a form of surrender and then walks out of the store. It takes me a minute to process what happened and to scramble after him. Once I exit the store I look for Naruto. I find him by a pond, not large by any means, not far from me. The pond is small but has a little wooden bridge over it and Naruto was standing on the bridge leaning over the railing. As I approach him I notice Koi in the pond.

As I get close to Naruto I see that he has an expression on his face thats hard to read. Its almost like he's confused and depressed at the same time. I find my place next to him on the bridge and look over the railing, as well, at the koi in the pond. Then for unknown reason I begin to think about when father is going to move our family again. Neither Hanabi nor I know when we are going to move before we come home and find boxes everywhere, our belongings packed, and our rooms bare. This is one the main reasons I try my best not to make friends. I just don't want to hurt anyone when I inevitably move again, in the middle of the night. I did make the mistake of making a friend the first time Father moved us. It was only a short while after Mother died and I didn't know that Father was going to move us again. The girl I made friends with was so happy and full of energy. I was immediately drawn to her. Though I don't remember her name or what she looked like I still remember how happy I was to have a friend. But little did I know that I would move without being able to give fore warning to my friend. Just the thought her maybe feeling abandoned is enough to make me almost start crying.

"Hinata-chan...Hinata-chan?" I hear someone call my name. I look to see who it is and find Naruto looking at me with apprehension written all over his face. I look around and find everyone else on the other side of the pond watching me with equally worried expressions. It wasn't until that moment that I realized that tears were streaming down my face. Reality and I seem oddly disconnected. Right now nothing feels real, like I'm watching it from someone else's perspective. I stare down at the water in the pond, still crying, hoping someone would change the subject quickly. Suddenly a hand finds its way to my cheek, trying to wipe the tears away, I look to see whose hand it is. I lock eyes with Naruto, who's hand is on my cheek, and get trapped in them. It seems, in the few times I've locked eyes with him, Naruto's eyes always draw me in and never let me go.

I hear Sakura, not so subtly, clear her throat and it isn't until then that I fully snap back into reality. Naruto jerks his hand back, and I wipe my face to get rid of the tears and tear strains.

"Are you ok Hinata?" Kiba asks. "You randomly started crying out of no where. One minute you were watching the fish and the next you just randomly started crying." Kiba says. He seems to like to get straight to the point about these things.

"I-I-I-I f-f-f-f-fine. W-Why don't w-w-we g-g-g-g-go t-t-t-to M-MM-M-Macy's?" I ask. I'm stuttering in outstandingly horrid amounts because of how embarrassed I am that everyone saw me.

"Sure. I want to look at a dress for homecoming anyway." Ino offered. She drew everyone's attention away from me and onto her. Remind me to hug her later.

"Yeah. It's right around the corner." Sakura adds.

"What do you mean it's right around the corner? It's still a month and half away!" Naruto shouts. Apparently Naruto wasn't prepared for the sudden conversation about homecoming.

Then when the group jumped into a discussion, mostly the girls saying the homecoming really wasn't that far away, I received a text from Hanabi.

'Otou-sama wants you home for dinner in 15 minutes." Shit! I wasn't anticipating Father wanting me home. He never wants to see me. tap Naruto on the shoulder to get his attention. I try and explain to him that I need to be home but I'm stuttering so badly even I can barely understand myself. But thankfully Naruto eventually go the point.

"OK wait here. I'll tell them I'm taking you home then come back to grab them." Naruto says. I'm really grateful that he isn't asking a lot of questions about the sudden waterfall earlier. Though Naruto still looks worried. He had that expression even before I arrived at the bridge.

Naruto rushes back and tells me we are good to go. I follow Naruto to his car and he helps me into the car. On the way back to my house Naruto fills the empty space that I'm too afraid to fill. He truly has a gift at talking when someone else doesn't want to.

"Thank you f-f-for e-everthing t-today N-N-Naruto-k-kun." I managed to stammer out.

"What happened at the bridge?" Naruto asks out of the blue. "You randomly started crying and I didn't know what to do. And you were so spaced out you didn't respond to me when I called your name. I was calling you name for five minutes before you noticed me." Naruto must fell powerless right and it looks like it's driving him insane. He probably didn't want to ask me the question but the fact that he cares enough to ask mean a lot to me.

I look at Naruto and find myself gaining enough confidence not to stutter.

"I'm fine Naruto-kun. Don't worry about me." I reply. And before he can say anything else I smile at him and climb out of the car door. When I get to my front door I turn around and watch Naruto as he leaves. I hope I get to see him again someday.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm so sorry everyone. I've been a bit busy. I just started College and the first semester didn't do too well for me. Though thankfully I was able to work on this sparatically throughout the semester. I hope you like it. I'm currently writing the next chapter and will hopefully get it done before my next semester starts.**

**I'm sorry, again.**

**Love,**

**The Ninja Magician**

Chapter 6: The Unfortunate Night and the Fortunate Meeting

Word = Flashback

I walk into the house and immediately notice most of the lights in the house are off. The only light still on is the lights in Father's office. I walk toward the office and the first think I notice is a strong smell of alcohol. This isn't extremely abnormal around the house but I steal myself in preparation for what is likely to come. Father is never happy when he drinks. I only hope that Hanabi is in her room. CRASH!

"Bitch. Why the fuck are you here?!" I hear Father yell. I pray that he is just imagining whatever he threw something at otherwise Hanabi is in a lot of trouble.

I sprint to the door to the office and see my father hunched over breathing heavily. There is scotch dripping down the wall opposite of him with Hanabi underneath curled around herself. She has broken glass on her head and shoulders. Hanabi looked absolutely terrified as she moved her eyes to look at Father. When I came into the doorway her eyes flashed to me.

Before I could stop myself I was between Father and Hanabi. I glared at hi to the best of my ability. I'm afraid of Father but right now Hanabi takes priority.

"What do you think you're doing?" You should know better than to interrupt me. You'll regret this." Father says these words quietly but with such malice I flinch a little bit. Father is slowly getting closer to me and leaning into my face. Father's glare shakes me to my core but Hanabi is behind me. If I back down now she will suffer as well.

"Hanabi. Go to your room we're finished for now. I need some alone time with your sister." Father spat out the words like venom. Hanabi scrambled to her feet and spared me an apologetic glance as she exited the office.

The next think I knew was a throbbing pain in my cheek and the floor rushing to meet me. I fall to the ground and then Father kicks me in the stomach. Couching, I slowly get to my hands and knees but father apparently has other ideas. I hear him clasps both of his hand together and then I feel him bring his hands down on my back. My arms buckle and my face bounces off the floor. Father drags me up by the front of my shirt.

"You're a worthless cunt! I should have gotten rid of you when I had the chance, left you alone on the street. You'll never amount to anything because you're too stupid and ugly for anyone to think of you more than trash." Father spat. His words hurt more than his punches and kicks ever will. The words hurt the most because they are true. I'll never be anything other than a piece of trash.

Father punches me one last time in the nose. My nose broke and is bleeding everywhere. Father drops me on the floor and gives me a final kick to the stomach. Mercifully he leaves before giving me anymore damage.

I have to go check on Hanabi. She has never experienced when Father is drunk and angry. But before I do I want to make sure she doesn't worry about me. Hanabi's bedroom is right next to mine so I go to my room to clean my face up so it doesn't frighten her. While moving about I make sure I'm as quiet as I can be. The last thing Hanabi or I need is Father becoming angry again because I woke him up. I arrive at my room and immediately started wiping the blood from my face. The broken nose had actually bled a lot and had made almost the entire bottom of my face blood red. My shirt was also slightly stained with blood so I have to change my shirt as well. Luckily none of punches had formed bruises yet but I double check that Hanabi couldn't see if any had formed. Then I enter her room.

I scan Hanabi's room and find her on her bed. I could see her shoulders shaking but I couldn't hear anything. As I got closer to her I could begin to hear Hanabi crying.

"Hanabi-chan? Are you ok?" I try and say loud enough for her to hear but quiet enough not to startle her. Though as soon as I said the first syllable Hanabi started to curl in on herself further and her crying intensified slightly. I approach her bed and thankfully Hanabi didn't react much.

"Ssssssshhhhh Hanabi-chan. It's ok, it's just me, you sister Hinata." I try to touch her shoulder but Hanabi recoils when my hand came near her. As the full impact of what happened to Hanabi settled in on me I began to cry. I made sure not to make a sound so Hanabi wouldn't know. The poor girl is so young but has to go through such a terrible thing. Ever since mother passed I treated Hanabi as more of a daughter than a sister. I, in turn, seem to have become the maternal figure in her life. I wipe my tears before Hanabi will see them.

"Hanabi-chan you're safe now. Father won't hurt you anymore." I through her shoulder again this time Hanabi launched herself at me. I immediately return the embrace she surprises me with. I can hear her audible sobbing into my shoulder. When Hanabi started sobbing into my shoulder my heart broke. I wanted to cry out but I have to be strong for Hanabi's sake, if nothing else. I really don't want to upset Hanabi more than she already is but I need to know what Father said to her.

"Hanabi-chan. What did Father say to you?" I ask quietly. I hear Hanabi sniffle and she starts to separate herself from me. I watch as Hanabi wipes away the tears from her eyes. I cup my hand on her cheek and wipe away some of the tearstains on her cheek.

"I had asked Father about Mom." Hanabi started. "And the next thing I know Father Walks over the glass bottle on his side table behind is desk poured some of the liquid from the bottle into a small glass." Hanabi started. I watch as more tears gather at the corner of her eyes. She tries to wipe them away before I can see. "And the next thing I know Father starts yelling at me that I've disappointed him." Hanabi says. She starts sniffling again but manages to stop herself before the tears begin again. Hanabi looks straight into my eyes. I know, in this moment, that the last thing Hanabi needs or wants was pity. So I stopped my tears that were threatening to fall.

"Did Father do anything else?" I ask. I need to understand entirely what Father did to her.

"No, he just started yelling at me. The only other thing was the bottle that broke before you came in." Hanabi said. Thank god that Father didn't treat her like he treats me.

"Thank you for telling me, Hanabi. It's not easy to look back on things that frighten us the most." I say. I should know since I still have nightmares of when Father did his heavy drinking. My only wish for Hanabi is that she never is forced to go through that.

"Actually it made me feel better. I'm sorry for dumping it all onto you though. I don't want to force you to listen to me." Hanabi replies, with a hallow voice. Her voice sounded like she just wanted to disappear from embracement. I feel her pain on that one.

"Hanabi look at me." I say, hopefully, with authority. Hanabi was looking at her hands that were folded in her lap. "I am your sister and I will always be here when you need to talk about anything. Whether it be boys, girls, or Father." I say looking straight into Hanabi's eyes. I meant every word I said from the bottom of my heart and I hope she understands that. If anything happened and Hanabi felt she couldn't tell me I would be devastated.

"I know, I know. You and your open door policy." Hanabi says while rolling her eyes. We both laugh at that. It's a quiet giggle but it's nice to know that she's feeling better and moving on from this horrid event faster than I ever did.

-Time Skip a few weeks later-

Father takes a sip of his coffee before looking from his paper to say a gruff 'hello' to me. I lower my eyes to the ground and greet him back. Thankfully Father hasn't remembered exactly what had happened that night a few weeks ago. The morning after was very similar to my usual mornings, though I made sure to get up a little earlier and cover the bruises that had formed overnight. I was extremely tense the entire morning until I left for school.

I walk over to the toaster to make myself some breakfast. As I'm spreading jelly on my toast I hear little feet bound down the stairs and see Hanabi smiling brightly.

"Good morning, onee-chan. Morning Father." Hanabi says as she walks over to me.

"What are you so smiley about this morning Hanabi?" I ask.

"Oh nothing. Just that the day seems so nice." Hanabi replies. I glare at her, knowing that wasn't the entire story. I let it slide for now but I'm going to grill her when she gets home from school.

I eat my toast then look at the clock. If I leave now I'll be at school a little early. That would be a refreshing change of pace. I say good-bye to Father and Hanabi then grab my things on my way out of the door. Things in this town seem very demure. Nothing especially better about it but just a calm, serene atmosphere that clings to it. The leaves are turning into their bright colors about now and it makes the scenery come alive. This morning I can't stop thinking about what happened that night. It keeps replaying over and over again. I keep thinking there was something I could have done to prevent it from happening. I continue that line of though and slowly become more and more worried that it might happen again. As I approach the school I see a mop of brown hair and a hooded figure out on the front lawn of the school.

"Yo! Hinata!" I hear Kiba call. I climb the hill to get to them and then say a good morning to the both of them.

"How are you holding up Hinata?" Kiba asks. He's obviously just trying to be polite but I find myself blushing at the question.

"I'm fine Kiba-kun." I reply. "Don't worry about me." Kiba didn't look particularly convinced by my statement but didn't ask any further question. I look over at Shino and find him looking at me with a slightly confuse expression. Though he doesn't say anything, which I'm grateful for.

I hear footsteps getting nearer to me from behind and turn around to look at who it is. I feel my air swing around onto my left shoulder and have to brush it out of my face to see who is approaching. I look up and see Naruto staring at me with eyes almost as big as saucers. I wonder what's wrong with me that he's looking at me like that.

"N-N-Naruto-kun, what's w-wrong?" I ask. Naruto just continues to stare at me. I wave my hand in front of his face but I still takes Naruto a few seconds to respond.

"N-N-N-Nothing. Nothing's wrong." Naruto's cheeks seem to be getting redder but I can't figure out what would make him blush so I just ignore it and more on.

"So Naruto. Did you do your history homework?" Kiba asks.

"Shit! I know I forgot to do something." Naruto's face went completely white when he realized that he forgot to do his history homework. Then Naruto runs into the school and disappears form sight.

"That knuckle head never remembers to do his homework. Usually history is the subject Naruto forgets the most. I got into the habit of just asking him before class starts every day." Kiba then looks at Shino motions him to follow him inside. I also follow Kiba indoors. When Kiba, Shino and I get inside we all head to the gym where we split off into our respective locker room.

"Yo Hinata!" I hear Sakura call me from the other side of the locker room. I walk over per usual routine and say hi while getting my gym clothes out of my bag. I finally was able to as Tsunade-sama where my locker was and I started putting my backpack in my locker but have to take my gym bag to class.

"Good morning Sakura-san." I greet Sakura. I've gotten comfortable enough around everyone to not stutter as much.

"Did you get all those precalc questions done?" Sakura asked.

"Yes but I-I didn't understand h-half of t-t-them." I reply.

"I still don't understand how to find all those trig identities. I get confused by all the inverses and how cotangents changes into this, that, and another thing. I just can't keep up with it all." Sakura continues on in this fashion until we reach the gym.

We stopped playing soccer, unfortunately, because it's gotten too cold outside to be able to use the football field. Though we've moved onto basketball which I'm less skilled with but I can keep up with all of the running because of my soccer training.

"Such youthfulness in all of you!" I hear Guy-sensei shout. "You all are so energetic this morning!" As Sakura and I approach the growing crowds of students I noticed that Naruto and Kiba were rough housing and Guy-sensei was yelling about youthfulness. Though eventually when Naruto and Kiba stopped they just stared at Guy-sensei incredulously.

"Hey there Hinata-chan. Sakura-chan." Naruto calls to Sakura and I as we approach. "How are you this morning?" Naruto asks.

"Fine. Nothing to report minus the lack of sleep from all the Precalc homework I had to do. Dear lord could Yamato-sensei given us any more homework?" Sakura says. I giggle at how exasperated she is by how much homework there was in precalculus.

"How about you Hinata-chan? Did you do anything interesting last night?" Kiba asks. I had just gotten a new wall scroll that I am really excited about but I don't want to be seen as the weird nerd. Father also went on another drinking binge last night and was verbally abusive. Though thankfully nothing physical and Hanabi was spared from the onslaught of insults. Father must have saved up since his last heavy drinking episode.

"N-No nothing of i-interest." I reply.

"Well I guess that means nothing bad happened at least, right?" Kiba says. I know Kiba was just trying to cheer me up but it only made me ashamed for keeping this secret form them. Though I did my best not to show it on my face.

Thankfully Anko-sensei came out of the locker room and is starting class so I didn't talk much after that.

-Time Skip to after Gym-

I got changed after gym and then went straight to my Honors Biology class. Thankfully though I didn't run into anyone I knew between classes. Since Kiba asked me about my weekend I've done nothing but sulk on what Father said to me the entirety of yesterday. Though I wish I could forget it I know his words were true and thus the experience has never fully left my conscious mind.

"You will never be who I used to think you would be. I thought you were going to be one of the most important people of recent memory but you nothing more than a worthless piece of trash that will never be of any use.

Those words were what Father said to me and have never left my head since

"Troublesome woman." That was all I heard before I almost ran smack into the door going into Honors Biology. I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn around to see who it is. It's Shikamaru. He doesn't like to delve deep into what I'm thinking when I space out, which unfortunately is far too often, and I'm grateful he doesn't ask questions.

"Thank you S-S-Shikamaru." I utter. I wish he hadn't caught me like that but I'm appreciative no one would have seen me walk smack into a closed class door.

"Pay attention to where you're going." Shikamaru replies. I also hear him utter 'troublesome' under his breath before I open the door and we walk into the classroom.

"Hey did you guys find out your grades for that test last week?" Ino asked. I put my binder and Biology book on my desk, then turned around to answer Ino's question. Though Choji beat me to it.

"Yeah. I go it but whatever. It's still the beginning to the semester." Choji replied.

"I looked at it last night and I-I-I g-g a B o-on it." I said. I am a little upset at my grade though. I've always been a little bit of a perfectionist when it come to my grades and thus always do everything in my power to get and A on a test. No matter how small it is.

"I'm not even going to ask what you got 'Mister Straight A's'." Ino said pointedly at Shikamaru. Said pineapple haired boy just simply sighed, rolled his eyes, and muttered his signature 'troublesome' under his breath. I giggle at the antic between Ino and Shikamaru. Those two are always getting into arguments of one kind or another. Though I never can quite figure out how the arguments start. All I know is that one minute there is a nice relaxed conversation and the next Ino and Shikamaru are almost screaming at each other. Asuna-sensei seems to understand them so he just simply tells them to kindly sit down and shut up before calmly moving on with the class.

Speak of the devil, I notice Asuna-sensei come into class and sit down at his desk. We still have a couple minutes left before he has to start class so he just quietly sits at his desk and types away at his laptop, ignoring the ever increasing volume of Ino and Shikamaru argument.

-Time Skip to after Honors Bio-

I exit the biology classroom and am almost immediately greeted with a smile that I've become extremely familiar with over the past few weeks.

"Hello, N-N-Naruto-kun." I greet the energetic blonde. I try and keep my eyes averted toward the ground due to the inordinate ability of Naruto's eyes to entrap me and force me to forget about my surroundings.

"Hey Hinata." Naruto greets me. "How is that ankle doing?" A few days ago I accidently tripped in Gym and, embarrassingly, fell right in front of Naruto, twisting my ankle in the process.

"F-F-Fine Naruto-kun. T-Thank y-you for asking." I give Naruto a small smile after finishing my sentence.

"How did you do on that English paper we had to do?" Naruto asks. "How are we supposed to find three things that exemplify the American Dream?!" He proclaims. Our English teacher, Kakashi-sensei, assigned the paper a week ago and Naruto appears to be having problems with it.

"It i-is a little d-d-difficult. Especially since y-you have to d-define the A-American Dream." I say.

"Wait. You have to define the American Dream? I didn't know we had to do that!" Naruto almost shouts. He is too loud for my poor eardrums sometimes. "I don't have enough time to rewrite my paper! What the hell am I going to do now?"

"I-It's going t-to b-be alright N-Naruto-kun. The prompt didn't specifically s-say you had to d-define the American Dream. I had just assumed s-since we w-were t-talking about what the A-American Dream means to each of us i-in c-class." I try and calm Naruto down but he doesn't seem to be noticing it. Gratefully though, Ino smack him on the back of the head.

"Calm down idiot. You're going to be fine. As long as you did what the prompt asked for you're going to be fine." Ino says. I hadn't noticed her coming up behind Naruto but her visit is very much welcomed.

"Hey Hinata. Sakura and I were going to have a sleepover sometime this weekend. Do you want to come? It's mostly just going to be a lot of junk food and bad movies." Ino tells me. I blush almost instantaneously. I've never been to a sleepover before and I really want to go. Though I don't know if Father will allow it. He's not exactly friendly to me, though he is on a business trip.

"I'll h-have to d-double check w-with my F-Father but he w-will p-probably say yes." I reply.

"Ok awesome! Anyway I'll text you the detail later. The bells about to ring." Ino runs off to her other class and I turn back to Naruto. He's standing next to the door to our English class biting his nails. In a bold move I place my hand on Naruto's forearm.

"N-Naruto-kun everything is going to be fine. I'm s-sure you'll get an A on the paper." I look straight into his eyes as I say this to drive home my point. Naruto sighs and lets his arm fall back down to his side.

"You're right. I can't fix anything now. I might as well finish this." Naruto sighs out. Together we walk into the classroom only to find someone I thought I might never see again.

**I hope you liked the story R&amp;R if you get a chance please.**


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